2019 League of Legends European Championship Spring Split [W1D2] Recap

At the League of Legends European Championships, Misfits Gaming and G2 Esports once again steal the spotlight with dominant wins over Shalke and SK. While exceL, Vitalty and beat Rogue, Splyce and Fnatic.

Stealing the Spotlight

G2 once again made short work of their opponent, as FC Shalke 04, the runner-ups from last Summer, went down in just 25 minutes. Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski repeated his jungle Karthus pick. He created quite a bit of trouble for S04 with his Requiem.

Game 2 of the day saw LEC newcomers exceL and Rogue coming off losses to Splyce and Misfits respectively. Riding some well executed rotations, exceL came out on top.

Vitality has been known for its early game aggressiveness while Splyce‘s style revolves around sitting back, controlling the game and waiting for its composition to come online. Both teams swapped roles this time. However, Vitality played to its late game composition strengths in order to overcome a dominant early game by Splyce. They ended up securing their first win of the season.

SuperTeam League of Legends European

While G2 looked like the early favorites, Misfits is also right there. The superteam also secured its second win of the week, mercilessly demolishing day 1’s sensation SK Gaming. Misfits’ two wins combined for a total of 47 minutes.

Finally, Origen and Fnatic renewed their rivalry.  The Spanish organization made its return to the top tier of the professional League of Legends scene in Europe. OG left Fnatic in a tough spot, as the reigning League of Legends European champions found themselves inside a 0-2 hole at the end of week 1.

• More: 2019 LEC Spring Split [W1D1] Recap

G2 demolishes Shalke 04 for a perfect opening week

A 3-on-3 trade around the bottom lane saw G2 walk away ahead. Jankos (Karthus), Luka “Perkz” Perković (Kai’sa) and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle (Alistar) collapsed onto Jonas “Memento” Elmarghichi (Kha’zix). Perkz hit a well-timed Void-seeker for the first kill of the game.

While G2 snowballed, Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu (Urgot) got one back for Shalke with a beautiful solo kill on Martin “Wunder” Hansen (Akali). G2 committed four players to a bottom lane dive, flanking a poorly-timed teleport by Elias “Upset” Lipp (Ezreal) and taking the first turret along with an Ocean drake. Memento lessened the disaster by trading it for the Rift Herald, releasing it on the top lane for an outer turret.

Holding a huge advantage in gold with 8,000, G2 placed some wards deep into S04 territory and began working with pickoffs to increase the snowball. Shalke tried to set up a trap down the bottom lane. But Perkz’s damage was more than enough to turn the fight around. G2 had the Baron already set 21 minutes into the game, going for the decisive push to close it out in only 24 minutes.

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exceL wins its first ever game, defeats fellow newcomers Rogue

Following a relatively easy start, Rogue briefly controlled the river in order to grab an Ocean drake. Jungler Mateusz “Kikis” Szkudlarek (Xin Zhao) shifted his path towards the top lane. Joining Kim “Profit” Jun-hyung (Vladimir) for a dive on Ki “Expect” Dae-han (Sion). While the first attempt didn’t quite work out, Chres “Sencux” Laursen (Lissandra) roamed from the mid lane for round 2, this time securing the first kill of the game.

Teamfight

A teamfight soon followed that as the two teams tried to go for the Rift Herald. Thanks to a good flank by Expect, exceL walked away with four kills. While the low health bars forced the team to fall back. Jesper “Jeskla” Klarin (Lucian) and Raymond “kaSing” Tsang (Zilean) held the bottom lane priority. They took down the first turret. Rogue, meanwhile, secured the Herald, using it to take down the top lane turret on exceL’s side.

Executing some much better rotations thanks to a good showing by jungler Marc “Caedrel” Lamont (Kha’zix), exceL soon put Rogue’s outer turrets to the ground and secured three elemental drakes. Following a bottom lane pickoff, exceL had the advantage to go for Baron. Rogue’s attempt at contesting the objective handled exceL two kills, and the team used the power play to close out the game at the League of Legends European spring split.

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Vitality stalls Splyce, grinds a comeback win

An early pause by Vitality was followed almost immediately by a pause by Splyce, which meant that it took quite a while for the third match of the day to get going. After his Viktor pick, Vitality’s ADC Amadeu “Attila” Carvalho went with an off-meta Vayne. Splyce’s bottom lane penalized Vayne’s poor laning phase and Vitality’s overly aggressive push. Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup (Sivir) turned the damage around, while Tore “Norskeren” Hoel (Braum) stacked his passive  to land the stun. The duo forced both summoner spells out of Vitality’s ADC and secured the first kill of the game.

Vitality slowed the momentum on Splyce’s side following an extended fight inside its own jungle, but the better laning phase by Kobbe and Norskeren allowed the duo to secure the first turret without requiring additional resources. Splyce turned most of its resources to its AD Carry, as Kobbe collected five kills to accelerate its first power spike. Holding the push priority and the lead in gold, the team could set up for the Baron.

Vitality

Vitality took a page out of Splyce’s book at the League of Legends European spring split, stalling the game while waiting for its own composition to grow, as the late game power spike with Attila’s Vayne and Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro’s Karthus could be a potential difference maker. While Lucas “Cabochard ” Simon-Meslet (Jayce) played a key role with his split-pushing, Vitality found its play with a pickoff on Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss (Sion). It shifted the momentum towards Vitality, as the French team went for an uncontested Baron thanks to the numbers advantage.

VIT didn’t do much with the buff, but it did manage to set up the three lanes. As the second Baron spawned, Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir (Zac) jumped right in the middle of the Vitality players but missed the engage. In a quick turnaround, Vitality picked one kill after another, with Attila winning a 1-on-3 trade against Kobbe, Vizicsacsi and Xerxe to complete the ace. Vitality didn’t even need the Baron, simply rushing down Splyce’s mid lane to win the longest game of the week in 40 minutes.

Misfits rolls over SK Gaming for its second win of the week

Misfits tried to explore its draft advantage as SK’s Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek Nocturne would have to sit back before getting into the game. Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian (Camille) went for an early bottom lane gank, forcing SK back and setting up for a jungle invasion. Both teams collapsed, but Misfits’ reacted quicker and Steven “Hans Sama” Liv walked away with a double kill. MSF’s AD Carry added a third kill just a moment later, chasing Juš “Crownshot” Marušič (Sivir) behind a turret. Meanwhile, Paul “sOAZ” Boyer (Kennen) also chased Selfmade deep inside SK’s jungle to grab Misfits’ fourth kill in four minutes at the League of Legends European spring split.

Misfits

Misfits’ bottom lane destroyed the turret a mere ten minutes into the game, with Hans Sama already sitting on three kills. At the 15 minute mark, SK found a solid pickoff on Hans Sama. Misfits immediately showed up to protect their star player, and the AD Carry narrowly escaped, turning the fight around. What looked like a bad fight for Misfits suddenly became an ace as sOAZ chased Cronwshot for the ace and Misfits’ 16th kill in 15 minutes. At the 19 minute mark, Misfits was already hitting SK’s tier 3 turret, taking down the top lane inhibitor 20 minutes into the match.

For the second straight day, Misfits set the record for the quickest win of the year. The superteam didn’t even bother need a Baron buff, taking down the three inhibitors before going for the Nexus to close out the game in 23 minutes. The British team now leads the LEC standings.

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Origen sinks Fnatic as the League of Legends European World Championship runner-ups go 0-2

Origen went with a Fnatic special, picking a mid lane Vayne for Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm. While Patrik “Patrik” Jírů (Lucian) and Afonso “Mithy” Rodríguez held the bottom lane priority. The OG support tried to ward deep inside Fnatic’s jungle. Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen (Kha’zix), along with his team’s bottom lane duo Martin “Rekkles” Larsson (Jhin) and Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov (Alistar). They picked off Origen’s support as Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek (Galio) got the last hit for the first blood at the League of Legends European spring split.

While Fnatic held the lead in kills, Origen managed to grab a marginal gold lead by taking down two turrets. However, OG did everything it could to funnel resources to Nukeduck, and it soon paid off as the mid laner dished out a huge amount of damage to turn the fights around. At the 27 minute mark, OG broke stalemate after a big teamfight win at the mid lane, securing two kills and heading straight to Baron. Fnatic forced a fight to defend its base from the Baron powered push, but OG secured three kills and closed out the game.